Ahead of Pulp's release, writer Ed Brubaker revealed the inspiration behind his western-tinged tale. In his personal newsletter, he detailed a near-death experience that influenced the tone and direction of the upcoming Image Comics book.
"I almost drowned last year," Brubaker wrote. "I got sucked out in a riptide and for about half an hour, I was struggling to get back in -- I kept trying to catch waves before I realized I was stuck, and by then I was exhausted and even though I knew what I was supposed to do, swim sideways at an angle, I panicked instead and kept trying to swim against the tide."
"I was very lucky that a brave young man leapt into the riptide to save me and we managed to get back to shore with a lot of effort," he continued. "I got to a point where I was pretty sure I would never make it out of the water, and my wife was on the beach watching, on the phone with 911. It was a harrowing day, and for a long time afterwards, every time I closed my eyes I was still in that water, waving for help, struggling to get out. I couldn't sleep because I would always be out in that water, as the waves got bigger and bigger around me."
Brubaker then discussed how Pulp tied into this harrowing experience: "Pulp was the first story I wrote after that day, and there's a clear strand of the story that comes from that day in the sea, where I can see myself trying to process the fear I felt."
He was inspired to write Pulp when his frequent collaborator Sean Phillips wanted to work on a western story. "But as I started writing, the story just became what it is... a story about a dying man looking back at life as the world around him becomes a horror show." Ultimately, Brubaker "poured some of [his] PTSD" into the final product.
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Pulp goes on sale Wednesday, July 29 from Image Comics. The story focuses on writer Max Winters, who becomes embroiled in a Western plot not unlike his own novels.